D.C.C.-F_c​k A Cosign mixtape review

The depth and scope of the D.C.C. can be intimidating. Let me start with what it means, it stands for the Dallas City Council. While not the best mixtape of this year F_ck A Cosign is a post DJ Screw Texas street attack needed in this trap v. ratchet market, with loaded tracks that can include any assortment of Tum Tum, Zilla, Quint Foxx, Lil Man, Lil Ronnie, Womack, Charlie Boy, or the ramblings of DJ Tuss. It’s hard to distinguish who is rapping at times and whose track this is that you are forced to just give into it and enjoy the songs. F_ck A Cosign is one of those great compilation projects that never feels like one. The cover (a re-envisioning of the N.W.A. greatest hits cover) calls the D.C.C. “Dallas Most Dangerous Super Group” but unlike other super groups the D.C.C. melds everything together so that frantic tracks like Play Crazy don’t feel like a collection of bars but fully formed musical experiances.

Being a fan of Texas hip hop the songs that engaged me the most initially were songs like Swisher Sweet Music and Daytonz N Swangaz; the straight head nod music that puts you in the Cadillac riding no matter where you are when you listen. It’s a credit to the group’s chemistry and production choices that the tape builds to be significantly more than that.

Zillaman and Double Double executive produced the project making sure that one song flows seamlessly to the next. Double Double also produced Play Crazy. Keise On Tha Beat drops a spooky Ghetto D era beat behind Day & Night (Lil Man, Tum Tum & Quint Foxx get so into it they do a Master P Unnnggghh on the chorus). The biggest name on the production side is Cardo who gives us the most pimpish beat (the track named Movie) on the tape next to 357’s Dallas Maverick Floor Seats.

The themes of F_ck A Cosign are easy to explain. Texas rap is different from all other form of rap (even Southern Rap) because it rejects everything but its own sound. It’s a candy paint world that isn’t impressed with your new trends or chart numbers. Images develop on F_ck A Cosign you won’t get anywhere else, on the first verse of All About A Dollar Quint Foxx tells us he has so much money he needs more thumbs to count it. The song showcases the same sinister feeling Day & Night had with a well appropriated Wiz Khalifa sample.

I needed D.C.C. F_ck A Cosign. I’ve written before about how there are two areas of regional rap that never change their identity: the bay and Texas. This has been the year that rap recognized the bay’s sound and ripped it off, sending it everywhere and making ratchet the most over used word in recent memory. I needed tapes like F_ck A Cosign and Killa Kyleon’s Lean on Me to prove that Texas rap remains unchanged. The samples, the interludes and the verses all support the Texas rap commandments: don’t lie to your people, don’t sell your people out, don’t ever doubt or pause your pursuit of success, and when you succeed take everyone who should be with you…with you. These are not just fun ideas to listen too, they make sense. It’s good to see a group like this come together to wave that flag again.